Molecular biology and colorectal cancer management

In current clinical practice, increasing number of situations make necessary the use of molecular biology tests to help clinicians in charge of patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) in their therapeutic decisions: indication of adjuvant chemotherapy after colorectal surgery, treatment choice in case of unresectable metastatic CRC. Advances in pharmacogenetics allowed a better characterization of inherited causes of CRC and to identify prognostic and predictive factors for different treatments. The purpose of this article is to present the recent advances in the use of molecular biology in case of suspected Lynch syndrome and indication of anti-EGFR antibodies. To cite this journal: Oncologie 14 (2012).